


5 Times Someone Made Ben Frown and the 1 Time Someone Made Him Smile

by WhoreForFluff



Category: EastEnders (TV)
Genre: 5 Things, 5 Times, 5+1 Things, Couch Cuddles, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:53:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26138434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhoreForFluff/pseuds/WhoreForFluff
Summary: Basically just what the title says lol.
Relationships: Callum "Halfway" Highway/Ben Mitchell
Comments: 2
Kudos: 59





	5 Times Someone Made Ben Frown and the 1 Time Someone Made Him Smile

**Author's Note:**

> This has been siting in my drafts for almost 2 months and I am FINALLY free of it. The ending might be a little shit but genuinely I would've deleted it if I hadn't finished it now so please enjoy.

**1**

It was regular, late Friday afternoon at the market. All of the stall owners were enjoying a steady stream of customers just out from work milling around and sizing up their products. Different conversations, yells of sellers, and the rustle of products being shifted around filled the area, filling it with life.

Martin was a bit rushed off his feet. Kush had just run off to deal with another family emergency, leaving him to have to deal with double the customers, running back and forth between the two stalls, doing his best not to bang into anyone.

He had been doing well, moving swiftly through the crowd and receiving sympathetic smiles from those who realised what he was having to do. He was actually rather enjoying himself, feeling like a kid running back and forth between opposite ends of the playground.

However, all good things must come to an end, as he inevitably crashed into the back of a man who had walked into Martin's path, causing the guy to smack his hand against a wall, eliciting a hiss of pain.

"Sorry mate, I-" Martin began, as the man turned around. His apologetic smile dropped off his face like bananas falling from a crate when he realised who it was.

"What the fuck are you playing at Martin?!" Ben exclaimed, his face contorted into a furious scowl.

"Uh, look I'm sorry Ben, I was just trying to get to Kush's stall" Martin stuttered out. He wasn't afraid of Ben by any means, he was surprised by the reaction. All he had done was knock into him and Ben was acting like he'd shot his mum.

"Well fucking watch out next time!" Ben hissed, hitting Martin's shoulder before storming off.

Martin stood there stunned, trying to process what just happened.

'Fucking Mitchells' he thought, before getting back to work, although now much more carefully.

  
  


**2**

"Alright son?" Kathy asked, as her youngest stormed into her café. She hadn’t been facing the door when he did but she knew the sound of his footsteps. He dropped his arms heavily onto the counter, leaning over, and just stared at her for a moment, the words ‘you serious?’ written in his eyes.

“Speak up mum, unless you somehow forgot about my hearing, or lack thereof” he said loudly, obviously to make a point, before flashing her a condescending smirk.

Kathy scowled at her boy and tutted before asking him what he wanted, this time more mindful of his hearing. As he made his order her eyes scanned his face noticing the dark circles under his eyes, his messy hair, and a smudge of something black on his face. Confused, she looked down at his body, landing on his hands, and realised that one of his knuckles were red and bloody.

Suddenly, it all made sense to Kathy.

She looked back up at Ben, glaring at him so angrily it was a shock to everyone in the café who saw that a hole wasn’t burned into Ben’s forehead. Eventually Ben noticed, and frustratedly grunted out a “what?”

“You’ve been in a fight” Kathy said plainly, arms crossed as if that was the only thing keeping her from slapping him upside the head. Ben just groaned and rolled his eyes, standing up straight as he did so, hands bracing the counter.

“Really? And how’d you come to that solution Sherlock?” he said, fixing her with a glare that made Kathy feel as though she was looking into a mirror.

“Y’know, I’m really disappointed in you, I thought you’d left that life behind for good” her voice was hard and harsh, and Kathy wondered for a moment if Ben knew the tone she was using, it being the one she always used when scolding him.

Ben just looked fed up and gritted out “could I please just get some food mum” looking as though he would have stormed out by now if he hadn’t wanted to be fed.

Fuming, Kathy got his food ready, ranting to him about why his fighting with everything that moved was an idiotic habit, about how she had really believed him when he had said he had changed for the better. Perhaps she was overdoing it slightly, but didn't she have a right as a mother to be concerned?

Eventually, she got everything together, and handed it over, shoving the bag in his face. She hadn't looked at him the entire time she had spoken, and now that she was she realised he wouldn’t have understood a word she had said. She felt her anger drain out of her, now replaced by a wave of acidic guilt washing over her, making her insides burn.

“Ben I-” she began meaning to apologise but was cut off by Ben thanking her, sarcasm coating his words, and walking out.

‘Have to get better at remembering that’ she told herself, failing to realise it wasn't the first time she had thought that.

  
  


**3**

Suki was tottering around the minute mart, looking for the ingredients she needed to make dinner tonight. Ash was coming over again, thankfully not with that  _ Muslim  _ girl she was so fond of. Honestly, it was like she was  _ trying  _ to make Suki mad.

Shaking her head, Suki walked over to the till to pay when a man walked past her, knocking her arm slightly.

“Uh, excuse me!” Suki cried, turning around to face whoever bumped her “be a little bit more careful please!”

“Sorry” the man said, barely after she stopped speaking, as if he couldn’t hear her. Now fully facing him Suki squinted slightly at him before she realised.

“Oh! It's you! The deaf one!” she smiled chipperly, “it is okay!” she continued, speaking slowly, voice raised, making sure to enunciate every word.

Ben squinted at her, eyes fixed on her mouth, his face dropping from confusion to annoyance when she started speaking slower. Which was a bit rude if you ask Suki, she was only helping.

“So!” she continued, in the same voice, strangely making Ben look more and more annoyed “need any help?! Must be hard shopping now with your condition!”

Ben grimaced and replied, equally slowly and loudly, as if he was mocking Suki “fine thanks, I’m deaf not a baby” with that he turned around, and headed straight for the drink section.

Unperturbed, Suki followed him, yelling “nonsense! I'd be more than happy” at his back. In an effort to try and make him turn around she grabbed his arm, but as soon as she made contact Ben flug his arms up as if he’d been burned, knocking her hand off. As he did so Suki saw his torn sleeve, frayed and jagged all around the cuff with a single thread coming out. “Oh your poor sleeve! I’d tell you to ask your wife to fix it but of course you don't have one, being the way you are”

That made Ben pause, and for a second he just  _ looked  _ at her, unblinkingly. “And what would that be?” His tone steady and defensive, almost daring her to say what they both knew she meant.

“Oh well you know” Suki said, before trailing off.

Ben straightened up, glaring down at her “gay you mean?” Suki gasped slightly, realising she didn't have the upper hand in this situation “and is that a problem then? Me liking blokes?”

Suki opened and closed her mouth, affronted “no of course not, my daughter is um, is  _ like that  _ I’m not, not uh-”

“Homophobic?” Ben finished for her. He shook his head, and laughed slightly. “You know what? Just remembered I have what I need at home” he hissed lowly, shoving past her and knocking her arm rougher than before, certainly more deliberately.

As he stormed out Suki turned to the cashier and scoffed “can you believe that! Making me out to be some homophobe, and I'm not! By the way” the cashier just nodded her head slightly, before ringing up Suki’s things.

‘Was only trying to help’ she thought to herself.

  
  


**4**

“Dad stop, you know I don’t want to talk about that” Bobby sighed, dragging his feet as he walked alongside Ian.

“ _ Yes _ I know but as your father I have a  _ right  _ to know exactly how that  _ cow  _ hurt you” Ian replied, a self-righteous grimace taking up his face. This had nothing to do with keeping Dotty quiet, he was  _ obviously  _ just concerned about his son.

He had been trying to get Bobby to open up for  _ weeks  _ but he just couldn’t get his son to talk to him. It was extremely disrespectful in Ian’s opinion. Bobby had been whining for  _ months  _ about Ian “learning to listen to him” and now that he was  _ trying _ to listen, strictly out of the goodness of his own heart of course, he was being shot down.

Unbelievable.

“You know dad, there was actually something I wanted to talk to you about-” Bobby began, but Ian immediately stopped listening when he saw Dotty and Peter talking across the square. It looked fairly heated, and Ian was about to walk over when he felt a tug on his sleeve.

“Dad? Dad, were you even listening?” Ian asked, his tone screaming ‘are you fucking kidding me right now?’

Ian opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to come up with a believable excuse, when out of the corner of his eye he saw a familiar leather jacket storm past him.

“Ben!” he called, affronted when Ben just kept walking. He heard Bobby mumble something that sounded suspiciously like a swear and jog up to Ben, grabbing his arm and facing him before speaking. Ian stood there, confused by his son’s actions before remembering that Ben was deaf now, and that everyone was meant to look at them when they spoke. Oh well, he was a busy man, he couldn’t be expected to remember  _ everything  _ about Ben’s life.

While Ben and Bobby spoke his eyes kept flicking back to Dotty and Peter. He was worried about whatever they were talking about, their conversation seeming to get more and more heated with every passing second.

After a quick conversation Ben’s shoulders sagged and he looked up at the sky for a second, as if asking it to tell him what he did wrong in a previous life to deserve this, before walking over to Ian with Bobby.

“What do you want Ian? And don’t say it something to do with your politics bullshit” Ben said, looking as though he was one bad interaction away from committing murder. Although, Ian thought, when did he not.

“I’m needing to run off for a second, could you talk to Bobby about uh, whatever it was he wanted to talk about” Ben just looked at Ian, mouth a straight line and eyebrows raised. In the absence of a ‘no’ Ian decided that his brother’s answer was a ‘yes’.

“Great! Thanks Ben” Ian said, before rushing off.

“Ian are you fucking kidding?” Ben yelled after him, but Ian decided to ignore it.

‘Can’t be that mad at me’ Ian thought to himself, as he went to go save his son from that wench.

  
  


**5**

“Ay hey Benny boy!” Stuart yelled across the square. Ben’s nephew Bobby looked up and tapped Ben’s arm making him turn around. He seemed to groan when he saw Stuart, making the latter wonder if yelling after him was a good idea.

Oh well, he did have something important to ask him.

“What do you want Stuart?” Ben groaned, looking like both a feather could knock him over and one wrong word away from throttling Stuart.

“So you know how Rainie really loves Abby?” Stuart asked, trying to be mindful of Ben’s hearing. He had shot himself in the foot a couple times with it but he was trying his best.

“I guess” Ben replied, crossing his arms and frowning at Stuart.

“Well I was wondering if you had any tips on making her like me more” Stuart said, stuffing his hands in his pockets, just to have something to do with them. “It’s not like she hates me, or anything, but I want to be sure I don’t mess up with her, I have a bit of a tendency of doing that” he laughed.

Ben’s eyebrows turned up and he looked around for a second before looking back at Stuart “and how would I know how to do that?” Ben asked, confusion evident in his tone.

“Well you know!” Stuart said before pausing, looking expectantly at Ben waiting for him to catch on. “You got your niece not too long ago, you must know  _ something  _ about baby girls” He finished, when it became apparent Ben wasn’t getting it.

Immediately, Ben’s expression hardened, eyebrows shooting down and his mouth curling into an even deeper frown. Stuart was about to ask what was wrong before Ben gritted out “you mean the niece who had to run off to who knows where because her dad fucked my step-mum?”

Stuart froze for a second, brain trying to catch up to the disaster he had just created. He’d completely forgotten about that whole side of the Keanu drama, he just thought of the guy as ‘that fucker who kidnapped Callum’.

“Look, Ben, I-” Stuart stuttered out, before he was cut off by Ben swearing at him and storming off.

‘That could’ve gone better’ Stuart thought, before heading off in the direction of the caf, realising that asking Kathy might’ve been a far better idea.

  
  


**+1**

Callum was having a lovely day.

It was his day off and he had the flat completely to himself, so he had decided to rewatch the Star Trek TOS movies. He was sprawled out on the couch, beer in hand, and was watching hot guys battle ridiculous odds.

Couldn’t get any better in Callum’s opinion.

Well, that was a lie, there was one way Callum’s day could get better, and that way just walked through Callum’s door.

He got up, pausing his movie, and walked over to greet his boyfriend with a quick kiss and a hug. He stepped back, immediately noting Ben’s tousled hair, showing how much he must have messed with it out of stress, the black grease on his face, and the tension and exhaustion in his shoulders.

“How was your morning at the arches?” he asked, apprehensively. They had been lying together in bed, planning out their day off together when Ben got the call from his dad calling him in. It had surprised both of them since everyone who would have reason to call Ben texted him now on account of his hearing.

Callum had answered it for Ben, groaning internally when he heard Phil’s voice on the other side. He had tried to explain to the man that it would be better if he hung up and texted Ben but Phil had just powered on, telling Callum he needed Ben at the arches in half an hour. He wanted to tell Phil to fuck off and continue cuddling Ben but he knew it would lead to nothing good.

Ben had groaned  _ externally _ and threw the duvet over his head when Callum said Phil needed him. It was only Callum reminding him that it would only be one shift and that they could do whatever he wanted after he got back that got him out of bed.

Callum was regretting his reminding however, now that he could see just how much of a disaster his shift must have been. It was written all over Ben’s face, Callum wasn’t sure how anyone, even Phil, could miss it.

Ben just leaned his forehead on Callum’s shoulder and wrapped his arms around Callum’s waist, breathing out deeply before letting out a small “it wasn’t good”

Callum wrapped one arm around Ben’s shoulders and held the back of his head with a hand, slowly pulling Ben’s head back enough so that he could see Callum’s lips “you want to tell me why?” he asked, gently stroking Ben’s cheek with his thumb.

Ben just looked at him for a moment, and suddenly all of the stress and sadness in his face drained away, leaving behind a smile so warm Callum was surprised his skin didn’t burn.

“I’ll explain in a bit, right now all I want to do is have a cuddle with my amazing boyfriend while we watch a good movie” Ben replied, before leaning in to steal another kiss.

When Callum leaned back he smiled dopely and almost went back in before remembering the movie. “Star Trek good enough for you?”

“Oh of course, who doesn’t like hot men and heavy gay subtext?” Ben replied before sitting down on the couch heavily, leaning his head back against the pillows and closing his eyes for a minute. When Callum sat down he quickly leaned into his boyfriend’s side, resting a hand on his thigh.

Callum looked down at Ben’s hand and saw that it was bloody. Concerned, he lifted it up and inspected it for a moment before asking “what happened to your hand?”

Ben sighed and sat up slightly, but didn’t take his hand out of Callum’s grasp “dad slammed a car door on it” when he saw Callum’s face take on an uncharacteristically angry scowl he quickly added “accidentally! Apparently he warned me before he did but I  _ obviously _ didn’t hear” he looked away for a moment before continuing “then he sent me off early, and he didn’t  _ say  _ that he was disappointed but he just had that  _ face _ you know”

Callum looked away for a second, mentally collecting himself. He always had to be careful when it came to talking about Phil with Ben, never knowing if Ben still hated him or was idolising him again.

He was about to start talking when Ben said, in a quiet, angry voice “even when I’m doing him a favour he  _ still  _ can’t be even the least bit accommodating towards me, or even just  _ remember _ that I’m fucking deaf!”

Internally, Callum was glad that Ben was mad about this, he had been worried Ben would just brush it off as just another thing that he deserved. It still hurt to see him in so much pain, though, and he wanted to fix that.

He brought the hand around Ben’s shoulders up to the back of his head and began stroking his hair, making Ben sigh and lean into Callum like he knew Ben would.

“I’m sorry you had such a tough day” he began, causing Ben to scoff quietly as if to say  _ that’s an understatement  _ “so how about we go clean you up, order a Chinese, and finish watching the movie”

Ben smiled again, somehow even warmer than before and Callum  _ swore  _ he felt his skin tingle as if it was being hit with the sun.

“I’d love that,” he said quietly before leaning up to kiss Callum a  _ thank you. _

**Author's Note:**

> I'm bisexualballum on Tumblr so come say hi if you want!


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